Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J) DePuy has settled a lawsuit in a California alleging that it sold a defective metal hip that harmed a man, which leaves up to 11,500 remaining lawsuits. Speculation remains that the world’s largest maker of healthcare products wants to negotiate a deal to resolve the rest.

In 2010, J&J addressed rising safety problems over the defective product by launching a global recall of 93,000 metal hips. J&J stated it would leave the metal-on-metal and ceramic-on-metal hip business by the end of 2014, due to plunging clinician use of the product and pending Food and Drug Administration regulations that would toughen the metal hip regulatory process.

Since August, a number of news agencies reported that J&J was considering a massive settlement that could surpass $3 billion to resolve the company’s remaining lawsuits over the metal hip implants. Such a deal would compensate victims based on the severity of their injuries and how many surgeries they needed to remove the defective implants.

Several of J&J’s rivals also face thousands of lawsuits over metal hip implants and alleged health and safety problems they have caused.

DePuy Hip Replacement System and Product Liability

By the time J&J recalled the DePuy ASR Acetabular Hip Replacement System in August 2010, the medical supply giant had already known about the problems with the system for two years. Made from a metal that can actually deteriorate, the hip implants have a five-year failure rate, and the thousands who have the implants now suffer dislocations and fractures and require costly, painful revision surgeries.

Our attorneys are actively involved in product liability litigation concerning the design and manufacturing of medical devices. To schedule a consultation with someone from our firm, do not hesitate to contact our injury attorneys at 305-476-7400 today. We handle cases throughout the nation and around the globe.